Khalid ‘Abd al-Majid is a Palestinian

Palestinian people

The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

 politician and militia leader. Since 1992, he heads a breakaway faction

Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (1991)

The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front is a Palestinian political faction led by Khalid ‘Abd al-Majid. The group emerged in 1991, as a split from the original Palestinian Popular Struggle Front...

 of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front

Palestinian Popular Struggle Front

The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front , , is a militant Palestinian organization. The group was led by Dr. Samir Ghawshah until his death in 2009...

 (PPSF), a minor left-wing group within the Palestine Liberation Organization

Palestine Liberation Organization

The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...

 (PLO).

The PPSF split after a 1991 decision by the organization's leader, Samir Ghawshah

Samir Ghawshah

Samir Ghawshah also spelled Samir Ghosha , was a Palestinian politician and militia leader. He was the head of the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front and member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee...

, to support Yassir Arafat's peace appeals to Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. 'Abd al-Majid led the radical wing of the organization, with Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

n and possibly Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

n support, as it broke away and rebased in Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

, where he presently lives.

The 'Abd al-Majid faction of the PPSF has little influence on Palestinian politics

Politics of the Palestinian National Authority

The politics of the Palestinian National Authority take place within the framework of a semi-presidential multi-party republic, with a Legislative Council, an executive President, and a Prime Minister leading the Cabinet. The PNA is not an internationally recognized independent sovereign state...

, and is believed to have become or less subordinated to the Syrian government. It has no representation in the Palestinian National Authority

Palestinian National Authority

The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...

 (PNA), which it does not recognize as a legitimate representative of the Palestinians, as the PPSF argues it was set up through an illegitimate agreement, i.e. the 1993 Oslo Accords

Oslo Accords

The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...

.